


light at the end of your tunnel

by dweirs



Category: Primeval: New World
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dweirs/pseuds/dweirs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 1x08. Ange visits Ken to tell him her leaving Cross Photonics is official this time. He invites her for another one of their private meetings in hopes of ending their work together on a clearer note. A little too much wine on Ange’s part causes a slightly more emotional evening than either of them expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	light at the end of your tunnel

“Do you have an appointment, Miss?”

Ange’s eyebrow raised questioningly as she stared at the woman behind the desk – one she’d never seen before in the previously run down office. It didn’t seem so run down anymore, however. In fact it looked quite clean and organized compared to the last time she’d seen it, and this woman wasn’t the only new person in here. A couple men stood around the area wearing uniforms, and both were eyeing her suspiciously. She sent a slight glare in their direction before turning back to the woman seated at the desk. “With all due respect…” Her voice trailed off for a moment as she glanced down at the nameplate on the desk. “…Ms. Merriweather, I hardly think I need an appointment. I’ve been here on multiple with no appointment necessary. You can ask Lieutenant Leeds himself.”

“I’m sorry, you’re going to have to set up an appointment.”

“Is he in his office?” Her eyes darted for a moment towards the closed door that she’d so often entered, folding her arms across her chest.

Officer Merriweather, however, did not answer her question. “I can pass on a message if you’d like.”

“Look, I don’t want to pass on a message. I don’t want to make an appointment,” Ange insisted, only barely keeping the irritation in her voice contained. “If you want these soldiers back here to tranq me for going into his office, go right ahead. But I don’t have time to stand here talking about appointments. And I know for a fact that—“

“Ms. Finch?”

The sound of the door closing and the man’s voice behind her stole her attention, and when she turned she was immediately met with the sight of Ken Leeds standing there, a rather pleasantly surprised, but confused look on his face. Her body quickly followed her head as she turned, clearing her throat slightly before speaking. “Lieutenant. I was just having a chat with your…assistant here.” She glanced back at the woman for a moment, and she was sure her irritation came across just fine in her icy gaze before she looked forward at Ken once more.

“Oh, of course. This is Lisa Merriweather, my new assistant. Merriweather, Angelika Finch.” Ken beamed a little as he fell silent, allowing them to give each other a brief nod of acknowledgement, but quickly sensing they didn’t particularly care to meet each other, Ken quickly broke the silence . “Right, um, did you need something? I mean, of course you need something you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t… Should we…talk in my office?”

For a moment, Ange contemplated this before finally nodding. “Really, this won’t take very long but…sure.”

Ken smiled brightly at her as he gestured towards his office and then walked forward, opening the door and standing aside for her to step inside. Once she did so, he took a moment to glance out before shutting the door behind him. “So…you probably noticed the renovations are done,” he commented proudly, a grin spreading across his face as he turned and faced Ange. “I hadn’t had the chance to tell you yet but Project Magnet is now up and running at full operation. Helping you – er – Evan out with this dinosaur problem is going to be a whole lot easier from here on out.”

“I noticed,” Ange responded with a slight nod, unable to keep a tiny smile from creeping onto her lips. His pride and excitement over the status of the renovations seemed almost contagious, but at the same time she couldn’t help feeling almost sad about it. She paused for a moment before continuing, and by the time she spoke again Ange could see an almost concerned expression forming on Ken’s face. “And the renovations are great. I’m happy for you. It’s a shame I’m not going to see how that goes after all.”

“Wait, what?” The slight concern on his face blew into outright shock at her statement. “B-but I thought you were staying?”

Ange shook her head sadly. “Things changed. I came here today to let you know that as of yesterday I have officially left Cross Photonics. And…to thank  you for all your help.””

She started for the door then, and Ken immediately jumped forward, wanting nothing more than to keep her from exiting that door. “But you can’t!” he insisted desperately, fear of losing her creeping into his voice. “Something happened. We can talk about it. That…that helped last time…didn’t it?” The hope in his words was obvious as Ken’s voice trailed off.

Hearing them caused Ange to stop, her icy eyes settling on him. For a split second those words almost made her stay. But nothing he could say would change her mind. Cross Photonics held nothing for her anymore. No matter what Ken tried to say, she’d already left. Slowly, Ange shook her head, her chestnut curls shaking lightly against her shoulders as she did. “Goodbye, Lieutenant.”

“Ange – er – Ms. Finch. Wait, please.” The man cleared his throat awkwardly, looking almost nervous as he struggled to find the correct words. “I-if you need to leave I understand, but… Can I at least know the reason?”

And somehow the genuine desperation and hope in his voice made her stop once more, this time not making another move towards the door. Every intention she had of walking out that door seemingly faded away, still there but much more easily ignored. When she walked through that door, Ken was at her side, the picnic basket from the last time they walked together tucked underneath his arm, close to his side. It had been a while since that walk, and even though she’d gone home quite tipsy, Ange still remembered it clearly in her head. Somehow it really helped her that evening. Truthfully, their last talk didn’t manage changing her mind on leaving Cross Photonics either, and she doubted this would either. But just having someone to talk with eased the weight off her shoulders.

For a while, neither of them really talked much. Ken simply poured the wine into their glasses (refilling hers after a short time) and let her relax, knowing she wouldn’t start talking so easily. Ange appreciated that. They walked for a while, the evening breeze whipping lightly through their hair as they sipped the wine in their glasses. Eventually they arrived at one of the small parks in the area, and Ange sat herself on one of the benches. Ken quickly sat beside her and set the small picnic basket on the other side of where he sat. He opened up the basket, fumbling to accomplish the task with one hand while his other held the wine glass. Eventually he managed, however, pulling out the small bag of hors d’oeuvres (he’d replenished them before they left) and held it up to her. “Carrots?” he offered innocently, and when she looked over at him a small grin appeared on her face as she shook her head.

“No, I’ll pass,” she insisted, waving a hand slightly at the bag.

Ken gave a small nod and put the bag away, closing up the picnic basket. The silence between them returned for a few minutes until finally, Ange heaved a sigh and turned her head ever so slightly in his direction. “Evan was hallucinating the other day,” she began finally. “Something got into his system. I don’t know the details, but he thought the dinosaur that killed his wife was in the building and nearly blew up part of the building.”

“Wait, hallucinating?” Ken questioned, furrowing his brows. “H-how did that happen?”

“Like I said, I don’t know the details. Something about some dinosaur he dealt with earlier.”

A look of understanding came over his face and he nodded, albeit with a light cringe mixed in. “Oh. That would be the dinosaur…vomit.”

Ange tilted her head, eyebrows raised slightly as she looked over at him, obviously having not expected that response. “Right…,” she muttered, her voice trailing off for a moment. “It…affected him pretty badly. He started building something to blow up the dinosaur. He locked Toby in the lab. Mac managed to help him for a while but I don’t think that lasted long. He wouldn’t even trust Dylan. If Dylan hadn’t helped undo the wiring and I hadn’t gotten to him in time…well, we’d have gone up with the building.”

“I’m really glad you didn’t.”

A slight chuckle escaped Ange’s lips at the comment, but she didn’t respond to it. She wasn’t used to hearing such sincere compliments and it still never failed in catching her off guard. After a minute or so, however, the smile that worked its way onto her face faded and she continued speaking, albeit hesitantly. “When I got to him he thought…that I was Brooke.”

She brought the wine glass to her lips again, taking a rather large gulp. Another silence fell, and the light from the sun slowly began to fade as the sunset dwindled lower on the horizon. It didn’t seem to matter to Ken that the conversation continued to fall into prolonged silences every now and then. He merely watched her patiently and refilled her glass once she polished it off. “By Brooke I take it you mean…” Ken’s voiced trailed off after he finally broke the silence, and Ange gave a small nod.

“His wife, yes,” Ange confirmed. She took another sip of wine before she spoke once more. “I guess in a way it was good for him. He got to say goodbye to her. He didn’t get that when she died. But after that I just don’t think I can work there anymore.”

It was at least another wine glass later, perhaps more (she’d lost count) before Ange could bring herself to continue, and her voice seemed almost pained now. “I thought Evan was finally moving on. Our relationship was finally going somewhere. Things were happy. But I underestimated how much he’d moved on. He… He’s not over Brooke. Me being with him didn’t help him with that. Actually I…think I made it worse. I mean, if I haven’t managed to help him in the last six years, why did I think I’d be able to help him now?”

Ange didn’t turn towards Ken, focusing only on her wine glass, and she eventually knocked back the remaining contents. Ken didn’t speak, but she caught a glimpse of him when she threw her head back, and she could see his lips moving wordlessly, concern in his eyes as he struggled to find words. But none left his lips and her gaze only stayed on him for a split second before it fell to the ground beneath them. Another moment passed, and suddenly she felt Ken’s hand tugging her wine glass away. Instinctively she held tighter, but Ken stayed persistent as he tugged harder. Soon enough he managed to wrench it free, eliciting a soft, quiet, but unmistakable sob from her lips. Her hand flew up, covering her mouth as Ken set hers, as well as his, wine glass on top of the picnic basket, out of the way. Ange could feel his eyes still on her, and she did her best to keep control of the tiny, silent sobs that seemed to keep on coming, wracking her body every now and then.

After a minute or so had passed Ange let out a deep breath, but before she could completely manage pulling herself together, she felt a hand on her back, and she jerked her head up towards Ken in surprise. The worry in his eyes was unmistakable, and it caught her completely off guard. No one ever looked at her like that and she didn’t have the slightest idea how to respond. Despite how much she tried to control herself, however, the tiny droplets of tears that had been forming at her eyes trickled slowly down her cheeks and Ange quickly looked down again, wiping at her eyes. Despite her better judgment telling her to push the man away, that judgment was dulled from far too many glasses of wine. And deep down, she realized she honestly didn’t feel like pushing him away. In fact, Ange almost enjoyed the feel of his hesitant, but gentle touch on her back, and before she even realized what she was doing, she laid her head on his shoulder. Something in her head kept telling her not to, that she shouldn’t even have come here with Ken to begin with. It wasn’t any of his business. In fact she never even told him that she and Evan were going out. The man was probably confused and yet for some reason he was taking the time to comfort her anyway. Ange appreciated that far more than she could say.

The hesitant hand on her back soon slid around her, bringing his arm around her comfortingly. She heard a slight nervous cough from his mouth and she couldn’t help laughing slightly at that, though it was cut short by another sob as she sighed. “I thought things with me and Evan might actually work out,” she muttered softly against Ken’s shoulder. “Instead I just ended up a replacement for someone I can never live up to. He never loved me.”

Ange shook her head softly, unable to stop the silent tears from trickling down her cheeks. She didn’t bother stopping them now, but the way Ken slowly tightened his embrace on her comforted her and she felt just a little bit happier. In all honestly, she had no idea what compelled her to pour her heart out to this man, who she only knew for the sole reason of keeping Evan safe from the dangerous dinosaur business he got himself into. They weren’t anything more than business partners, and even now that link was gone because she’d left Cross Photonics. There was no need to ever speak to him again. Perhaps it was the wine that made her so willing to talk with him, and to sit here like this crying quietly in his arms to relieve all the pent up emotions that she had no one else to talk about with. Or maybe it was the very fact that he listened, and willingly – _expectantly_ , even. Maybe it was the way he always appeared so eager to help, the way he gave her little compliments here and there that caught her off guard but always managed putting a smile on her face. The last time they walked together like this, he told her he’d miss these little chats. And deep down, Ange knew that she would miss them, too. Maybe it was only the wine speaking, but right now she really felt that she didn’t want them to end, even if her time at Cross Photonics and working with Evan had.

“…I would.”

The words were soft, quiet, barely audible above the blow of the night wind. Yet Ange was sure she’d heard them, and they brought her out of the mess of thoughts within her mind that she couldn’t seem to organize thanks to the amount of wine she’d consumed. She didn’t respond, however. The wounds from the incident with Evan were too fresh in her mind, and the wine and heart pouring she’d done brought them too far up the surface for her to even formulate a reply to those words, much less look up at him. Instead she nestled her head closer against his shoulder, quite close to the crook of his neck, and snaked her arms around him, returning the embrace. They stayed like that for a long while. The sky had grown dark by now, and their bench illuminated by one of the few street lamps lining the small park. And when they finally parted ways, the wounds in her heart didn’t feel quite so deep. And perhaps their little chats wouldn’t be coming to an end after all. 


End file.
